Goma, DR Congo — Orders on Thursday to evacuate Goma, a city lying in the shadow of DR Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo volcano, have shed light on a rare but potentially catastrophic risk — a “limnic eruption,” when volcanic activity combined with a deep lake can spew out lethal, suffocating gas.
The phenomenon first came to the world’s attention in August 1984, when 37 people mysteriously died at Lake Monoun in western Cameroon.
Scientists found that dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in the depths of the lake had erupted, creating invisible clouds at the surface that were borne by winds into homes and fields, snuffing out life.
Two years later, more than 1,700 people and thousands of …
Keep on reading: ‘Limnic eruption’: DR Congo’s volcano nightmare